Lydia Ko returned to the Tour for the season opener with a different look. Gone are her trademark glasses. She’s transitioned to contacts and gleefully left the glasses behind.

“I’ve always thought about it, but glasses kind of became comfortable. I’ve used them for the last four or five years. It’s weird now without them. But a lot of people have recognized me, so it’s been a little bit of a surprise in that way,” Ko said.

However, one person didn’t recognize her.

“My caddie, Jason, I saw him last week without my glasses and it was kind of on and off during that time. I was like ‘Oh, this is me without it.’ And then like a couple days ago he couldn’t recognize me, but the other caddies did,” Ko said with a laugh. “So no, I think it will be like that for a while. But I guess after a week or so everyone will get used to it.”

The change has been welcomed for Ko, though. She no longer has to worry about cleaning the raindrops off her lenses on a rainy day and thinks the contact lenses are here to stay.

“When I now hit balls with my glasses, everything looks smaller, so I start fatting it or doffing it. In that way now it’s a little uncomfortable going to what I originally had. It feels good now,” Ko said. “Everything just seems more wide open. I heard that contacts, because they’re right on your eye, they look straight everywhere I look out of, but with glasses it’s only perfect when you look straight out. So in that way it’s a good change.”

Eventually Ko’s hoping to not wear contacts either.

“I think it will be a couple years until I get Lasik. I think Lasik will be great because then I don’t need to worry about contacts, glasses and all that. My mom’s had Lasik before and it was good for her,” Ko said. “So
hopefully I can get it one day, but really need to get it after your eyes stop getting worse. I think even now we’re kind of on that border, but I don’t want to do it too early where it becomes a problem again in 10 years.”

The No. 2 player in the world being able to see even better now should be a scary reality for the rest of the Tour after a season that saw the 17-year-old Ko win three times including the season’s biggest prize.

Who is that?

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